


A Healing Touch

by AlwaysABlossom



Category: Chicago PD (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-27
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-13 00:02:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29019405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlwaysABlossom/pseuds/AlwaysABlossom
Summary: Hailey knows Jay more than he knows himself. She knows when he needs a touch that is not from her.
Relationships: Jay Halstead/Hailey Upton
Comments: 21
Kudos: 113





	A Healing Touch

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't ventured into writing fanfiction since my high school days, and the only writing I'm doing now is my dissertation. So, hopefully this is not extremely horrible. Here goes nothing!

It has been a hard few days for all of them. Cases with children has never been easy, but now it feels closer to home than before. The nights and days seem to have bled into one another. The recent raid has been unsuccessful, and it is close to ten when all of them pull into the district. 

"Go on, I'll join you in a minute" Hailey tells her partner, as she turns of the ignition. Camilla Jones, the newest member of intelligence nods as she gets out and moves towards the building. Hailey waits for a few more seconds, her eyes trained on the person in the truck parked next to hers. She can see the tension even from where she is sitting. The steering wheel is clutched so tight that she imagines they are white. She gets out of her car ad moves to the passenger side of the other truck. 

The door is unlocked so she gets in and the slight head tilt is the only indication that Jay gives to acknowledge her. His eyes are still closed, and he has a deathlike grip on the steering wheel. Hailey shifts as much as she can in her seat so that she is facing him. She places a hand at the back of his neck and another one on his hand on the wheel, slowly rubbing his knuckles to get him to let go of the tension he is carrying. Jay lets out a deep breath and opens his eyes slowly as he turns towards her. 

“Hey,” she whispers. “Hey” his reply comes gravelly like he has not spoken for a long time. “We are going to catch this guy.” She tells him. 

She knows it in her heart, and she needs it to be true, for all their sakes. He nods his head and as she brings both her hands up to his face and runs her fingers along the edges of his eyes and his temples, where she knows his head aches when he is in a lot of tension. He closes his eyes at her touch. The tension he is carrying lessens, but both of them know, it will not fully go until the case is closed. 

“I love you” he whispers as she brings her lips to give him a small kiss. Even after all these years they are not ones for too much of public affection at the workplace, but they are in the darkness of his truck and both of them need it more than anything. He brings his fingers to clutch hers, which are still resting on his face, his thumb caressing the band that rests on her ring finger. “I love you too” She whispers back, their forehead resting together, breathing in the same air. It grounds them both, even if they know it is temporary. 

They don’t need words after that, a small squeeze of their hands, and they are both getting out of the car, and moving towards the precinct. They are back to their work modes, but Hailey knows that he is not spiraling. Just before they enter, he reaches out and gives her hand a small squeeze to let her know he is fine and she brushes her fingertip on his rings in return. 

All the others are at their desk when they reach the bullpen. Hailey moves over to sit down in her chair. It still seems weird to her even after all these months, when Jay doesn’t join her at her desk but moves into the office in front of her. Her new partner now occupies the chair in front of her and uses her own chair more than her desk. Hailey shakes her head slightly at the memory, before getting back to work. Jay sits at his desk and goes over what they already have, trying to figure out they have missed. The case seems to be going nowhere. 

It’s already too late. “Hey guys, go home and get some rest. We will pick back up tomorrow.” He tells everyone. Hailey looks up, she knows although he is sending all of them home, he is still going to be here, trying to go over everything. As everyone gathers up their stuff and gets ready to leave, Hailey glances up once again into the office. Jay is back at his desk, going through the case files. 

She lingers for a moment at his door, “You should come home too, look at it with fresh eyes, you know.” She tells him. “I Know, I’ll be home soon. I promise I won’t stay too late.” Jay tells her, looking up. “Promise?” “Yes, I promise” there is small smile on his face as he stares at her. She smiles back, knocks softly on door as she turns and walks back down the precinct. 

She is already in her pajamas and in bed for almost half when she hears the front door open. The familiar sound of the keys beings dropped into the bowl by the door. She can imagine him going into the kitchen to grab a glass of water. She knows he is going to stop at the door down the hall before he will come into the master bedroom. She doesn’t fault him when he stays there longer than usual. She herself spent a quite some there herself. 

When he enters their bedroom, he forgoes switching on the lights, moving swiftly to the bathroom, washing up and changing out of his work clothes. When he crawls into the bed a few minutes later, she moves closer to him, grabbing his hand, bringing it around her snuggling back into his chest. She feels him place a kiss to the top of her head. “We will get them soon.” She tells his softly, reiterating her words from before. He presses another kiss to the juncture of her neck and shoulder, breathing her in. “We will” he mumbles into shoulder. She falls asleep to his soft breath and he is lulled by the steady beating of her heart. 

The next day is a whirlwind for them. They find some leads during the earlier part of the day, and by the late afternoon, they are readying for the raid. Hoping it has more success than the one they had the day before. Jay instructs everyone about how they are going to conduct the raid. Pairing them up. It is still weird not to have Hailey behind him, as they clear buildings, especially today. But he has a more important job to do. As all of them get ready to go, he gets up high on the next building and sets up his rifle. He doesn’t do this as often as he used to anymore, but he feels he doesn’t trust anyone else this time. There are children’s lives at stake. 

Once he says go, it is a flurry of activities. And before anyone can blink, he shoots, dead center. The little kid, Mia, he reminds himself, rushes from her captor and he sees Hailey pick her up and hold her close. Even with the kid in her arms, Hailey raises her hand to signal to him that it was successful, and he finally releases the breath he was holding. Even though the hard part is over and little Mia can return home to her family, he still has a lot of work to do. Especially given that he took the shot, the day is far from over for him. 

Hailey shoots of a quick text as she is exiting her vehicle before all of them make their way back to the bullpen. She is glad, that the case has ended on a positive note. The little girl Mia is back with her parents. Like the day before, she gives Jay’s hand a squeeze as they enter the building. He pauses a moment, slipping his arms around her waist, pressing a light kiss to her temple. It is a fleeting moment, but it reassures both of them before they are back at their respective desks. 

She is putting the finishing touches to her report when her phone vibrates with an incoming text, and she can hear the commotion downstairs followed by a shriek of laughter. Her colleagues share a smile as she moves towards the stairs to welcome the spitfire who is rushing up the stairs as fast as her small feet can carry. 

“Mommy!!!” Emma cries out as she runs to her. Hailey picks her up and hold her close. She savors the feeling of her daughter’s smalls arms as they encircle her neck and the smell that is uniquely Emma. “Daddy!!!” she cries out from Hailey’s arms. Hailey tilts her head to see her husband standing at by his door with a soft smile on his face. Emma is already squirming to get down. With another hug, she lets her down, and Emma is running to her dad’s waiting arms. As soon as Emma has her arms wrapped around Jay. She sees the tension leave his body. Hailey slowly takes the few steps, closing the gap between herself and her family. 

She knows the others are trying to get back to their paperwork, to give them some privacy. As she reaches Jay and Emma, she slowly guides them into the office, closing the door behind her. Jay is still clinging to Emma but extends out an arm pulling her into the hug. They all cling to each other a bit tighter, and Emma doesn’t squirm like she usually does, somehow understanding that both her parents need the extra hug today. 

But as is with a four-year-old, the moment is broken quickly, when Emma looks at his desk and exclaims, “I work case like daddy!” “You want to solve a case?” Jay asks her as he drops her in his chair and placing some white sheets, he keeps handy for when Emma comes to visit along with a few color pens, moving the important paperwork out of the way. “Is Sergeant Emma Halstead all set?” he asks? As he moves the chair up close, so his daughter can reach the table. Hailey stands there with her arm still around Jay’s waist as she sees them both interact. All the tension that Jay seems to have been carrying is no longer there and Hailey is glad she asked the baby-sitter to bring Emma here. 

Having settled their daughter in the chair, Jay wraps his arms around Hailey. “Mia was four and had green eyes” he murmurs softly. “Emma is safe and so is Mia” Hailey whispers back. Now that he looks at the picture of Mia on in the file and he looks at his daughter, they are nothing alike. His daughter is carbon copy of Hailey, just with greens eyes. “Thank you for bringing her here. I didn’t know…” He trails off, still looking at Emma sitting and scribbling at his desk. “I love you, WE love you!” she emphasizes looking at her daughter. “I love you too” the reply is soft, as he ducks to place a soft tender kiss on her lips. “Let’s go home. We can finish up tomorrow.” Jay tells her. She nods but hold onto him just a tad bit longer, not ready to let go yet. 

“Shall we go home, baby?” She asks Emma instead. “Emma looks up from her drawing, debating if she is ready to go home just yet. “Daddy come too?” she asks. “Yes, Daddy is coming too.” That’s all she needs to hear it seems. She extends her arms up towards her parents hoping one of them will pick her up and Jay obliges her. Hailey and Jay move in sync as they walk out to the bullpen. “Guys, we can finish up tomorrow.” He tells everyone as Hailey moves to her desk to switch off her computer. 

In a few minutes everyone is packing up for the day. All of them feel a bit lighter now that the case has been solved and all of them have received a hug from Emma. They all clear out, all heading back to their families. Emma is now in her mother’s arms as the Halstead family walks downstairs. As Jay put his arm around them, he is reminded, it’s having them in his life that is greatest gift and a soft touch from them is enough to help him breathe easy.

**Author's Note:**

> If you have made it to the end, I can't thank you enough for giving this a read!


End file.
